I came across this video on YouTube and just had to share it. It’s about using an application called “Brushes” on Apple’s iPhone to create some truly wonderful artwork. One of the pieces was recently featured on the cover of The New Yorker magazine.
I realize that it has nothing to do with website design directly, but still I found it inspirational. Makes me want to finally break open my piggy bank and buy an iPhone!
Negative space or white space are the areas in a design that have no actual objects or images. But don’t think that negative space or white space isn’t important. They can help focus a reader’s eyes exactly where you want them to go, give some “breathing room” to a design, and when used creatively can produce some truly memorable logos.
In this post, I’ll be presenting some very cool logos that use negative space to their advantage. As you study the images, take note how your eyes seem to fill in the white space with the missing content. These logos were created with that firmly in mind.
It’s pretty much common knowledge that if you want to become better at design then you should spend time studying the works made by professionals. But in addition to that, studying the truly amazing, jaw-dropping and head-scratching design flops can offer just as much insight (as well as possibly boosting your own ego: “My designs aren’t THAT bad!”)
The blog Your Logo Makes Me Barf is a wonderful place to gander at some of the world’s worst logo designs. I came across this the other day and decided to pull some valuable design lessons out of the garbage heap of logos.
Let’s begin today’s “what not to do” lesson:
From time to time during my web-surfing excursions I come across some really creative website navigation. The website for the dConstruct 2009 convention is a prime example of such navigation:
To really appreciate this website’s navigation, head on over and click on some of the links in the main navigation (located at the top in the green bar.)
Check it out here: dConstruct 2009
Sometimes the best way to learn about design is to see what not to do. And an even better way is to do so through the use of a little tongue-in-cheek comedy. The website “Make My Logo BIGGER Cream” does just that with a short video that spoofs silly TV ads.
As you watch the video, you’ll easily see the what not to do parts. If you’re not quite sure which is which, here’s a hint: the ‘before’ versions of the designs are better than the ‘after’ versions.
View the video here: Make My Logo BIGGER Cream!
What can we learn about design from this video?
When I first began to study the fundamentals of design I ran across a very interesting acronym the gives one the deepest insights into good design: CRAP. An acronym such as this certainly is easy to remember. And indeed to this day, it influences every stage of my design process.
Once you learn exactly why good design is CRAP, then you, too, will see vast improvements in your designs as well.
“CRAP” stands for: Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity. And as my chemistry teacher in high school once said, “Etch these onto your forehead so you’ll never forget.”
Here’s an overview of each:
Read on…
Probably one of the most often-asked questions I receive is “how do I become better at designing?” This question speaks deeply to my own heart because during my early years in this profession I asked it repeatedly. I asked other website and blog owners — and even more importantly — I asked myself.
Now, many years later, the answer to that question has become crystal-clear. But, the answer is usually the one that most people don’t like to hear. If you really want to know what it takes to become better at design and website design then read on…
Read on…
While surfing one day, I came across this very cool website effect using something called CSS (Cascading Style Sheets – a techie term used in website design.)
Now, this cool effect only works when you manually resize your browser window (meaning that most people won’t even know that it’s there while casually surfing around) but it is still worth checking out!
To view:
Click on any of the links below (a new browser window will open automatically.) Then resize your browser window by clicking and dragging on the lower right-hand corner of the browser window. (Note: This won’t work on all browsers! Notably, Internet Explorer 6.)
Starry Night by CSS-Tricks.
Dumago website.
Silverback website.
(One more note: I’m not promoting the products on these websites, just showing you the cool effects there.)
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